A D-list sometime Hollywood actor, O'Connell is best known for being the Baldwin-like brother of Jerry O'Connell, the one-time Stand By Me tubby boy, Sliders genius, and Jerry Maguire stud quarterback who currently appears in NBC's Crossing Jordan television series.

According to E! gossip columnist Kristin Veitch, the 29-year-old O'Connell's selection marked the culmination of a months-long search for an under-30 doctor, celebrity, or "someone with a celebrity angle" -- with the younger O'Connell (who, in true Hollywood hanger-on fashion, has spent the last eight years living at his older brother's place) apparently satisfying a liberal interpretation of the later description.

O'Connell's perpetual unemployment presumably created some unique challenges for ABC's public relations team, forcing them to describe him as "a financially secure 29-year-old jack of all trades who enjoys a fantastic lifestyle and a love for life that is contagious" (didn't they used to say the same thing about Kato Kaelin?)

According to ABC, O'Connell is also "a self-described fun loving 'good guy,'" (after all if you can't believe his own opinion of himself, who's can you believe?) who has "long cherished his carefree bachelor lifestyle" -- which is of course, just the type of guy that a show that had problems with lasting relationships should be seeking to cast.

When not living with his brother, the bi-coastal O'Connell also spends time at his parent's home in Montauk, Long Island (apparently it's easy to be "financially secure" when you don't have to worry about paying the rent or a mortgage.)

Continuing its ongoing efforts to shake up and revitalize the sagging long-running reality series, ABC's seventh The Bachelor edition will be "less structured" than its predecessors. While remaining intentionally vague as to exactly what that will mean, ABC did reveal that the changes will result in the removal of some of the show's formalities, starting with a lack of limos, gowns, and a traditional rose ceremony during The Bachelor 7's first day.

(Photo credit ABC)

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